Legal & General Group Plc Has $22.42 Million Stock Holdings in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT - Free Report) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 146,776 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,330 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.41% of Novanta worth $22,423,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Novanta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Huntington National Bank grew its position in Novanta by 53.6% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 430 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Novanta in the fourth quarter valued at about $97,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Novanta by 6,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 726 shares of the technology company's stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Novanta by 41.6% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,500 shares of the technology company's stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Novanta from $169.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Novanta Stock Performance

Shares of NOVT traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $114.58. 293,911 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 195,898. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Novanta Inc. has a 52 week low of $98.76 and a 52 week high of $187.12. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $131.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $152.28. The firm has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.61 and a beta of 1.42.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The technology company reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $238.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.29 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 6.52%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.63 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Novanta Profile

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.